The king of peace
1But it will not be dark in the land
for a long time,
the land where the people are suffering.
The Lord humiliated the land of Zebulun
and the land of Naphtali before,
but He will bless them again,
and He will make all well with them.
He will make the road
that goes to the sea important again,
and also the land on the other side
of the Jordan River and the land
where other nations are living now.
2The people who lived in darkness
have seen a great light.
A light shines on the people
who lived in a land where it was dark.
3Lord, You will make the number of the people
become more and more.
You will make them happy
and they will rejoice.
They will be as happy as they are
when they harvest wheat.
They will shout like people who have won
a war when they take the plunder
from the enemies for themselves.
4Yes, they were slaves of the enemies.
They had to carry yokes on their shoulders,
and the enemies beat them with sticks.
But You will break their yokes
and the sticks like you did on that day
when Gideon defeated the Midianites.
5Yes, they will take the shoes
that have walked over them,
they will take the clothes of the soldiers
who have killed their people,
and they will burn the shoes and the clothes.
6Yes, a child will be born for us.
The Lord will give us a son,
and the child will become king.
They will name him:
Wonderful Advisor, Powerful God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7He will be the most important King,
and there will always be peace.
He will rule like his forefather David.
He will be fair and he will always do
what is right to everyone.
The Lord who rules over all
will make this happen.
The Lord will punish the Israelites
8The Lord sent a message to the Israelites,
and the descendants of Jacob heard what He said.
9All the people knew this,
and also the people of Ephraim
and the people who live in Samaria.
But they were proud, and they said:
10‘The walls that we built from clay
fell over, but we will build new walls,
and we will build them with stones.
The enemies have cut down the sycamore trees,
but we will plant cedar trees.’
11Then the Lord protected
the enemies of King Rezin.
He told them to attack King Rezin.
12The Arameans came from the east
and the Philistines came from the west,
and they attacked Israel.
They destroyed the land completely.
But the Lord said that was not enough.
He stayed angry and
He did not stop punishing them.
13But the people of Israel
did not come back to the Lord.
The Lord who rules over all
punished them but they
did not want to be near Him.
14In one day the Lord cut off
the head and the tail of Israel,
the palm branch and the reed.
15The leaders and the important people
are the head or the palm branch,
and the false_prophets who tell lies
are the tail or the reed.
16The people who had to lead the nation
have led them wrongly,
and that is why the people don't know
where they should go.
17That is why the Lord does not like
the young people anymore
and that is why He does not feel sorry
for the widows and orphans anymore.
They are bad and they say foolish things.
They don't talk about things that the Lord wants.
But the Lord said: ‘That is not enough.’
He stayed angry and He did not stop punishing them.
18Yes, their sin was like a burning fire.
It burnt all the thorns and bushes,
and it made the plants in the forest burn.
The smoke went up into the air.
19The Lord who rules over all
was angry. That is why the enemies
have destroyed the land,
and that is why the people of Israel
have become like firewood.
They do not feel sorry for each other.
20They are like wild animals that eat everything.
That is how they fight against each other.
They do not stop,
and they become weaker and weaker.
21The Manasseh tribe goes to war
against the Ephraim tribe
and the Ephraim tribe goes to war
against the Manasseh tribe,
and together they go to war
against the Judah tribe.
But the Lord said that was not enough.
He stayed angry and
He did not stop punishing them.
